THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC OF SIBERIA.
Tins book abounds in fact and date and authoritative state- ment. But the events recorded and their developments are necessarily of poignant import for the world-politics of the future. Therefore we must be grateful to Mr. Norton for what appears to have been a very strenuous literary effort on his part ; even though we may find the result at times terribly reminiscent of textbook history. In a measure, perhaps, a certain quality of " instructiveness " could not have been avoided, as obviously the public is small that knows anything definite of the development of Siberian affairs since the Russian Revolution in 1917. So that data had to be meted out somehow. But tabulation, we think, might have been more successfully camouflaged, or at least have been more often varied by chapters of thrilling narrative such as we get a brief example of in the story of the Czecho-Slovak Anabasis.
For there is no lack of the right subject-matter in the tumultuous history of the country. The book is divided into two parts, of which the first gives a packed description of the colonization and early history of Eastern Siberia, followed by a not alto- gether unbiased account of the post-War phases, struggles and occupations experienced by this peasant population until its ultimate rejection of Communism resulted in the formation of the present three-year old Republic under President Krasnoschekoff.
The second half of the book is entirely given up to the Constitution of the Republic, to representative personalities, and to the all-important and vital questions of foreign policy and the problems raised by Japanese military ambition. The Czecho-Slovak Anabasis, with its astounding record of achieve- ment by force of will and determination, is clearly shown by Mr. Norton to have been the starting-point for the sorry,
long-drawn-out failure of Allied intervention. But the brief, reactionary episodes in which the chief actors at various times were Koltehak, Semenoff, Horvarth, Ungem and others, are difficult to follow as Mr. Norton reconstructs them. For he refers to them regardless of their serial position, or simultaneity, and attention must be kept fatiguingly on the alert that one may take account of their proper order.
Mr. Norton cannot successfully disguise his strong anti- reactionary bias ; merely his suppression of facts which would be detrimental to the Red cause is sufficient to cancel any claim that he might put forward to the position of an unbiased recorder.
On paper the Constitution of the new Republic appears Utopian ; further examination reveals it to be almost entirely an affair of paper and ink. Elaborate schemes of judicial administration and military service are powerless to stop the incursions of bandits ; regulations as to a minimum wage are futile when it can happen that workers receive no pay over a period of eight months. A marvellous scheme of universal insurance is not put into operation on account of financial disability, and it is difficult to retain interest in elaborate
school curricula when no attempt is made to enforce attend- ance. All this disparity between theory and practice is due, we are told, to the desperate financial straits in which the Government is placed, mainly owing to the fact that Vladivostock—the terminus of the Trans-Siberian railway, and once the source of almost the entire revenue of the country —was, when the book was written, in the hands of Japan, or rather of a " White" Russian Government under Japanese patronage.
The whole position of a buffer State on the fringe of a continent must necessarily be a very precarious one. And Mr. Norton's book will have more than justified its appearance if it succeeds in reawakening interest in Europe and America in the brave struggle for self-determination still being maintained by this small peasant population, made up of divers primitive racial elements and scattered 'over immense territories.
• The For Racrern Republic of Siberia. Br Henry K. Norton. London: Mies and Unwlu. [12s. Od. net.]
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